Odds & Ends: Nelson Cruz, Tejada, White Sox, Ankiel

Besides sifting through the remaining free agents, the Yankees are exploring the trade market for left field, writes Frankie Piliere of Fanhouse (via Twitter). Piliere heard unconfirmed whispers that one of those inquiries was made on Nelson Cruz.

Oregon State left-hander Josh Osichwill miss the 2010 season due to Tommy John surgery, writes Jason Churchill. The 20-year-old southpaw had been described as a "lock for the mid- to late first round" by Keith Law.

Steve Melewski takes a look at the arguments for and againstMiguel Tejada's return to Baltimore, and also suggests slotting Miggy into the cleanup spot to start the season.

White Sox VP Scott Reifert passes along a quote (via Twitter) from scouting director Doug Laumann, saying the south-siders will likely focus on pitching in the next draft.

Cashman HAS expressed interest in bringing Damon back, just not at the crazy price that Boras is holding out for. According to reports Boras is alluding to a mystery team which has offered Damon a lot more. Maybe it’s a Japaneese team, haha.

damon would fit the Braves well, and I still think it’s his likeliest destination, at about $4-5M per. Hopefully, they can get away with a 1 year offer.

frankly, if mclouth keeps up his production, I’ll be surprised, but he doesn’t have the numbers to move to a corner spot in the OF. The Braves need to get what they can out of him in CF and trade him to Kansas City for what they can get… .256/.352/.436 isnt going to cut it for a power position… I’d also be surprised if he touches 20HR in 2010.

He hit twenty in 129 games and 26 the year before. Unless you’re predicting major injury or nagging injuries, I don’t see why you would say he’s unlikely to reach 20. As for his slugging I’d guess it ends up somewhere between his 08 and 09 totals, putting his OPS at slightly over .800 which coupled with 20 steals, 20 HRs, and likely excellent defense would be more than solid enough in LF. Yeah I agree it doen’t make sense picking up his option which is over 10 million but his offense isn’t going to keep him tied to center field when Schafer is ready

not predicting injury- i think mclouth does a good job staying in shape.

rather, 2008 was a breakout year, that I m inclined to think of as a career year. The .256 average probably represents what you’d expect, and he has a good eye, so you’d expect some walks as well, although I don’t know if 95 points on walks to the OBP would happen again. Also, I expect pitchers to be more careful around him, since he does have power, and that HR total will keep going down, probably settling in the 13-18 range likely around the middle at about 15. I expect his OPS at about .750-.760, which may not be enough…

As a White Sox fan i’d rather have Damon as DH than Thome. Damon can at least run a bit and won’t strike out as much as Thome. Plus I get sick seeing a player continuously hit in to a shift when all he needs to do is drop a hard bunt toward third base and get a single out of it.

Not saying to get him or trying to be greedy, or anything like that, but the yankees should look for Crawford, that makes the most sense for both teams. Good defense, great speed, and a force. With the rays at this point probably not going to be able to compete for the east or wildcard, and Crawford going into free agency anyway, they should try to get the most they can for him and get something back instead of just draft picks.

It wouldnt make sense for the Rays to trade Crawford to the Yanks. It would ensure that he would be facing them around 20 games a year for the better part of the next couple years (since new york would most likely not trade for him without insuring that they could lock him up with a multi-year deal). Crawford is a leader and a force for the Rays and trading him out of the division, or even the league, would make much more sense (if they were to trade him at all – it wouldnt surprise me to see them make a hard push to extend him sometime before the trade deadline)

i’m not saying they would im just speculating. Though you dont tihnk it doesn’t makes sense, when it comes down to it, if the jays got the best offer from a team in division, for halladay, your not going to care who you trade him to.

I am interested to see who the Yanks are trying to trade for, I wonder if Willingham is a target of theirs? Speaking of Willingham, if he’s dealt I wouldn’t be shocked if Damon becomes a target of the Nats

Calling it right now. Royals sign Damon because he fits so well into their plans. Overpay for every outfielder in his 30’s. Also, why didn’t the Cubs reel Damon in? Because I’d much rather have Byrd for 3 years $15 million than Damon at $5 million at one year…….

The Royals signed Scotty Pods too. As for Damon, there’s just no room on the Cubs’ roster for Damon if he wants to start, and as it stands, he’s too expensive to be considered a fourth OF/platoon option with Byrd in CF. It’s a shame too, he’d slot in well near the top of the order. I’d much prefer to see the Cubs re-sign Reed Johnson or sign someone like Eric Byrnes or even Jim Edmonds, who flourished in Chicago, to fill the fourth OF/platoon role.

I’d rather sign a FA rather than trade for a LF. Now, if the person they were trading for was a young proven player with a reasonable contract for 3-4 years like Granderson then maybe. But as it is the Yanks farm system has been thinned out at the upper levels and I would rather use our best commodity ($$$$$$) rather than more prospects to fill LF.

But the system isn’t that bad and the Major League Roster doesn’t consist of free agents for a few years and it doesnt look like Jeter is going elsewere. I’d do a Gary Sanchez + Mark Melancon trade for Crawford or Dejesus.

Desmond Jennings is Major League Ready and i’d be surprised if Crawford is still on the Rays by Opening Day.

Crawford probably won’t be traded to the Yanks. Also, I think the days of the Yanks trading away highly regarded prospects for 1 year rentals of mediocre players like DeJesus are over (hopefully). They might do so for high impact players but not for 2nd and 3rd tier players. I’m still convinced that for high revenue teams like the Yanks the best way to improve the team is via free agency, especially if you can fill holes with free agents not requiring draft pick compensation. The new model in baseball for big market teams is to make smart trades, splurge on high impact FA and spend heavy in the draft and international markets. Using pospects to acquire players should be frowned upon unless your getting guys like Halladay, Lee or Mauer, and only when you can extend those players prior to the trade or acquiring young talent in their prime already signed to resonable contracts (Granderson).

No sense in trading top 10 prospects for DeJesus, who is set to make around $5 mil I think, when you can just sign Damon. $5 mil + prospects is about the same in value as $7 mil in my opinion.